The Clown Jewels
Story Summary This is the third story written in a literary format rather than a comic-style format. It follows the leaderboard reward fighter, Quippaj, who has been captured by the points and achievement reward fighter, Tippitch. Tippitch speaks exclusively in rhymes. Quippaj is a bookkeeper, and his thoughts reveal how he likes not a lot of things, excepting a few, like money and jewels. Despite his uncaring and deceitful attitude, he has some strong ideas about honor, for when Tippitch forces him into a spit handshake agreement, he decides to follow through with it. He hates defenders, which is sad, because this is the event that allows defenders access to him. Story The little moon was full tonight. Quippaj didn't like it. Quippaj didn't like most things; the best attitude towards the world in general, he felt. Look where liking things got other folk: In an exo plant or, worse yet, stuck in some defender's band. Not for Quippaj, no siree. If he'd had a travelling companion, he would have explained that he wasn't what you'd call warlike, and could get downright pacifist when the quarrel was on somebody else's stoop. He said not a word of this, however; the fool on the ball was no kind of companion, not as long as he kept Quippaj trussed up like a travelling trunk. "I ride point, you bring up the rear, golden coins and memories dear," sang the figure in blue motley before sailing into a dazzling backflip and landing on the ground neat as you please. The ball spun, a blur of silver and blue, before vanishing with a loud raspberry. Quippaj stared at his captor with distate. He wished his hands were free so he could conspicuously not applaud. Oh, he'd like that. Folk thought Quippaj was a sourpuss, but they were wrong. Some things he enjoyed very much. "I demand you release me this instant!" Quippaj shouted. "I have important business at Clocks Corner! Defender business!" It was the best he could do under the circumstance, and rather conveniently, almost true. It wouldn't do to tell a thoroughbred lie. For all he knew, the blue fool was a fibfeeler. Suddenly, Quippaj found himself staring at a gem, a huge crystal the color of icemelt floating in thin air. He made to grab for it and nearly fell on his face. The blue stone bobbed and spun; he scowled. Sapphires were show-offs, everybody knew that. He'd made up his mind to ignore the jumped-up little rock when another gem winked into view. Nowhere as large, but this one was red—fiery as salamander hide, deep as signaler's velvet. "Red as the winning pip," he mumbled, reaching for the jewel. His hands being tied, he reached with his tongue; dignity had never been Quippaj's strong suit. Then again, a bookie needed dignity even less than he needed friends. The gems darted away. This time, Quippaj did fall on his face. By the time he regained his feet, the mirage—for that was what it was—had filled out. Now the gems were set in a scepter, and the scepter set in a slim hand. The hand was regal and the rest of the lady was downright majestic. Quippaj noticed only two things: he didn't like her and his nose hurt like a bad bet on worse odds. "An antic? A fall! A clown, a clown, a brother after all!" The blue man was cartwheeling around him now. "This queen we'll besiege, we motlew few, seize and split those jewels two!" Deftly, he undid the cords around Quippaj's wrists and knees, then squatted one-legged in front of him, one ankle absurdly laid on the other knee. Quippaj wiped his streaming nose, grimacing. The fool grabbed the snotty hand and shook it until Quippaj's teeth clicked. "Spit and shake, the deal is sealed! Tippitch is my name, the siege is the game!" Quippaj looked at his slimy hand. He was in for it now. It wouldn't do to go back on a spit-shake, so that meant he had to go with the damned fool and fight in the siege. But once his customers figured out their bookie was what you'd call affecting the outcome, why, he'd need to retire right quick; and a ruby the size of a horse-eye would come in fair handy. "Race you, brother!" called Tippitch. He pointed skyward as he skipped down the road. "Loser fetches the ball!" Quippaj looked up, stared for a moment, then hurried after the fool. Overhead, the brand-new moon spun lazily, blue and silver. Once he caught up with Tippitch, thought Quippaj distractedly, he would explain that he didn't like any of this. Summary This event is the 18th SIEGE event. Each day, players join a HOST (a team of multiple players) and compete against another host in daily host battles. Players earn points by "laying siege" to enemy STRONGHOLDS. Points contribute to an overall leaderboard and to the host battle. Victory in a daily host battle will see the members of that host rewarded and promoted to a higher level with greater rewards. During host battles, strongholds are defended by SENTRIES (other players) who must be defeated before players can attack the stronghold. Before the stronghold can be attacked, players have the chance to take down a boss. If the boss is not defeated in 5 minutes, the siege moves onto the stronghold phase. Points are earned by defeating sentries, bosses, and strongholds, and count towards your overall rank and your rank within each host. Sentries are fought in sequences of three and players can choose to spend 1BP for 'No Edge' or 3BP for '300% Edge' and a 200% Points boost, much like in PvP. However, unlike in PvP, players will find the bands do not regenerate in between battles and will retain any progress in skill countdown. These sentry battles also include a Win Streak which can be attained by winning three-in-a-row. SENTRIES are divided into three difficulties, each yielding a proportionate number of points. However as you win more SENTRY battles and progress in the brackets, the difficulty of all three options will rise. Similarly, as you lose battles, the difficulty of each will lower. Easy Street generally consists of and Fighters. Beaten Path generally consists of and Fighters. Rocky Road generally consists of and Fighters. When a player decides to attack a particular road's sentries, the player will continue to fight sentries until they have either: 1. Defeated three sentries in a row. 2. Been defeated by a sentry. 3. Defeated all remaining sentries. In the latter case, if they personally defeated the last sentry, they will receive a Clincher point bonus, and will then be returned to the stronghold screen. Once a stronghold has lost all of its sentries a boss will become available to attack. This works much in the same way as a mob raid. In the first few days of the event, this boss is much weaker than the bosses presented in the latter few days. If the boss is not defeated within 10 minutes, then it will keep its remaining health until the next time it becomes available to attack. When attacking the boss, a player has the choice of using 1BP or 3BP, which gives the player no EDGE and 400% EDGE, and 100% POINTS and ?% POINTS respectively. After the boss has been defeated or has timed out, a castle or stronghold will be available to attack. Host members have 10 minutes to attack the stronghold and once again can choose to spend 1BP or 3BP. This will award the player with no EDGE and ?% EDGE, and 100% POINTS and ?% POINTS respectively. Like in Mob Raid, SALVO is awarded to the MOB every time an attack is made against the castle, which gives a percentage bonus to points received for defeating the castle. This SALVO increases dramatically if a player uses 3BP as opposed to 1BP. SALVO will only increase when a player attacks the castle if the last player to make an attack was not you. This means that players must alternate their attacks for better efficiency in raising SALVO. Like the boss, the stronghold will time out after 10 minutes, but its health will remain the same for the next time that it becomes available. If a player manages to defeat 9 sentry battles within one round, they will be rewarded with a 120% EDGE bonus the next time a boss is available. This EDGE bonus increases to 150% if a player defeats 12, and then again to 180% at 15 sentries, but at 18 sentries and more the EDGE does not change. Event Units The following is a list of all units introduced in this event: __FORCETOC__ Category:Siege Category:Events Category:Short story